The greatest advances in knowledge of Saturn, as well as of most of the other planets, have come from deep-space probes. Four spacecraft have visited the Saturnian system: Pioneer 11 in 1979,Voyagers 1 and 2 in the two years following, and, after almost a quarter-century, Cassini-Huygens, which arrived in 2004. The first three missions were short-term flybys, but Cassini went into orbit around Saturn for years of investigations, while its Huygens probe parachuted through the atmosphere of Titan and reached its surface, becoming the first spacecraft to land on a moon other than Earth’s.Saturn's interior is probably composed of a core of iron, nickel and rock (silicon and oxygen compounds), surrounded by a deep layer of metallic hydrogen, an intermediate layer of liquid hydrogenand liquid helium and an outer gaseous layer.
The planet exhibits a pale yellow hue due to ammonia crystals in its upper atmosphere. Electrical current within the metallic hydrogen layer is thought to give rise to Saturn's planetary magnetic field, which is slightly weaker than Earth's and around one-twentieth the strength of Jupiter's. The outer atmosphere is generally bland and lacking in contrast, although long-lived features can appear. Wind speeds on Saturn can reach 1,800 km/h (1,100 mph), faster than on Jupiter, but not as fast as those on Neptune.
Saturn has a prominent ring system that consists of nine continuous main rings and three discontinuous arcs, composed mostly of ice particles with a smaller amount of rocky debris and dust. Sixty-two known moons orbit the planet; fifty-three are officially named. This does not include the hundreds of "moonlets" within the rings. Titan, Saturn's largest and the Solar System's second largest moon, is larger than the planet Mercury and is the only moon in the Solar System to retain a substantial atmosphere. Saturn was the Roman name for the Greek Cronos, god of farming and the father of Zeus/Jupiter. Some of its satellites were named for Titans who, according to Greek mythology, were brothers and sisters of Saturn. The newest satellites were named for Gallic (Gaul, or ancient France), Norse, and Inuit (Eskimo) giants.
SATELLITES:
Pan (the
half-human, half-goat god of pastoralism);
Atlas (a
Titan who held the heavens on his shoulders);
Prometheus (a
Titan who gave many gifts to humanity, including fire);
Pandora (a
woman who opened the box that loosed a host of plagues upon humanity);
Janus (a
two-faced Roman god who could look forward and backward at the same
time);
Epimetheus (a
Greek backward-looking god);
Mimas (a
Titan felled by Hephaestus);
Enceladus (a
Titan killed by Athene);
Tethys (the
wife of Oceanus and mother of all rivers);
Telesto (a
water nymph);
Calypso (a
daughter of Atlas and paramour of Odysseus);
Dione (a
sister of Cronos);
Helene (a
daughter of Zeus);
Rhea (a
daughter of Cronos); Titan;
Hyperion (a
Titan);
Iapetus (a
Titan);
Phoebe (another
name for Artemis, goddess of the moon).
Satellites
discovered in 2000 are: Kiviuq, Ijiraq, Paaliaq, Skadi, Albiorix, Erriapo,
Siarnaq, Tarvos, Mundilfari, Suttung, Thrym, and Ymir. One more
satellite, discovered in 2003, is yet to be named.
Roman
name for the Greek Cronos, father of Zeus/Jupiter. Other civilizations have
given different names to Saturn, which is the farthest planet from Earth that
can be observed by the naked human eye. Most of its satellites were named for
Titans who, according to Greek mythology, were brothers and sisters of Saturn.
Basic astronomical data
Basic Astronomical facts about Saturn:
Saturn is second largest planet in our Solar
System. Its surface is made up of liquid and gas. Saturn is well known for its
complex ring system. It has a diameter of about 120,660 kilometers. Its closest
distance from the Earth is about 1.2 billion kilometers. From Sun its distance
varies from 1.35 billion kilometers to 1.5 billion kilometers. Saturn takes
29.5 years to make one orbit around the Sun and it takes 10 hours 40 minutes to
complete one rotation on its axis. Its average surface temperature is –178°C.
Its average geocentric motion per day is 00°02'01". Saturn have 62 natural
satellites of which Titan is most famous as it is the biggest satellite in our
Solar system. Saturn retrograde for about 135 days per year.
Saturn orbits
the Sun at a mean distance of 1,427,000,000 km (887 million miles). Its closest
distance to Earth is about 1.2 billion km (746 million miles), and its phase
angle—the angle that it makes with the Sun and Earth—never exceeds about 6°.
Saturn seen from the vicinity of Earth thus always appears nearly fully
illuminated. Only deep space probes can
provide sidelit and backlit views.
Like Jupiter
and most of the other planets, Saturn has a regular orbit—that is, its motion around the Sun is
prograde (in the same direction that the Sun rotates) and has a small
eccentricity (noncircularity) and inclination to
the ecliptic, the plane of Earth’s orbit. Unlike Jupiter, however, Saturn’s
rotational axis is tilted substantially—by 26.7°—to its orbital plane. The tilt
gives Saturn seasons, as on Earth, but each season lasts more than seven years.
Another result is that Saturn’s rings, which lie in the plane of its equator,
are presented to observers on Earth at opening angles ranging from 0° (edge on)
to nearly 30°. The view of Saturn’s rings cycles over a 30-year period.
Earth-based observers can see the rings’ sunlit northern side for about 15
years, then, in an analogous view, the sunlit southern side for the next 15
years. In the short intervals when Earth crosses the ring plane, the rings are
all but invisible.
Saturn’s rotation period
has not yet been well determined. Cloud motions in its massive upper atmosphere
trace out a variety of periods, which are as short as about 10 hours 10 minutes
near the equator and increase with some oscillation to about 30 minutes longer
at latitudes higher than 40°. Scientists have attempted to determine the
rotation period of Saturn’s deep interior from that of its magnetic field,
which is presumed to be rooted in the planet’s metallic-hydrogen outer core.
Direct
measurement of the field’s rotation is difficult because the field is highly
symmetrical around the rotational axis. At the time of the Voyager encounters,
radio outbursts from Saturn, apparently related to small irregularities in the
magnetic field, showed a period of 10 hours 39.4 minutes; this value was taken
to be the magnetic field rotation period. Measurements made 25 years later by
the Cassini spacecraft
indicated that the field was rotating with a period 6–7 minutes longer. It is
believed that the solar wind is responsible for some of the difference between
the two measurements of the rotational period. Other analyses based on Saturn’s
shape and interior structure suggested that the internal rotation period could be
as short as 10 hours 32 minutes or as long as 10 hours 41 minutes. The time
differences between the rotation periods of Saturn’s clouds and of its interior
have been used to estimate wind velocities (see
below The atmosphere).
Because the
four giant planets have no solid surface in their outer layers, by convention
the values for the radius and gravity of these planets are calculated at the
level at which one bar of atmospheric pressure is exerted. By this measure,
Saturn’s equatorial diameter is 120,536 km (74,898 miles). In comparison, its
polar diameter is only 108,728 km (67,560 miles), or 10 percent smaller, which
makes Saturn the most oblate (flattened at the poles) of all the planets in the
solar system. Its oblate shape is apparent even in a small telescope. Even
though Saturn rotates slightly slower than Jupiter, it is more oblate because
its rotational acceleration cancels a larger fraction of the planet’s gravity
at the equator. The equatorial gravity of the planet, 896 cm (29.4 feet) per
second per second, is only 74 percent of its polar gravity. Saturn is 95 times
as massive as Earth but occupies a volume 766 times greater. Its mean density
of 0.69 gram per cubic cm is thus only some 12 percent of Earth’s. Saturn’s
equatorial escape velocity—the velocity needed for an
object, which includes individual atoms and molecules, to escape the planet’s
gravitational attraction at the equator without having to be further
accelerated—is nearly 36 km per second (80,000 miles per hour) at the one-bar
level, compared with 11.2 km per second (25,000 miles per hour) for Earth. This
high value indicates that there has been no significant loss of atmosphere from
Saturn since its formation.
Composition & Structure
Viewed from Earth, Saturn has an overall hazy
yellow-brown appearance. The surface that is seen through telescopes and in spacecraft
images is actually a complex of cloud layers decorated by many small-scale
features, such as red, brown, and white spots, bands, eddies, and vortices,
that vary over a fairly short time. In this way Saturn resembles a blander and
less active Jupiter.
A spectacular exception occurred during
September–November 1990, when a large, light-coloured storm system appeared
near the equator, expanded to a size exceeding 20,000 km (12,400 miles), and
eventually spread around the equator before fading. Storms similar in
impressiveness to this “Great White Spot” (so named in
analogy with Jupiter’s Great Red Spot) have been observed at about 30-year
intervals dating back to the late 19th century. This is close to Saturn’s
orbital period of 29.4 years, which suggests that these storms are seasonal
phenomena.
Saturn’s
atmosphere is composed mostly of molecular hydrogen and helium. The exact relative abundance of the two
molecules is not well known, since helium must be measured indirectly.
Currently the best estimate is that the planet’s atmosphere is 18 to 25 percent
helium by mass. The remainder is molecular hydrogen and about 2 percent other
molecules. Helium is less abundant relative to hydrogen compared with the
composition of the Sun. If hydrogen, helium, and other elements were present in
the same proportions as in the Sun’s atmosphere, Saturn’s atmosphere would be
about 71 percent hydrogen and 28 percent helium by mass. According to some
theories, helium may have settled out of Saturn’s outer layers.
96.3
percent molecular hydrogen, 3.25 percent helium, minor amounts of methane,
ammonia, hydrogen deuteride, ethane, ammonia ice aerosols, water ice aerosols,
ammonia hydrosulfide aerosols
Saturn
has a magnetic field about 578 times more powerful than Earth's.
Saturn
seems to have a hot solid inner core of iron and rocky material surrounded by
an outer core probably composed of ammonia, methane, and water. Next is a layer
of highly compressed, liquid metallic hydrogen, followed by a region of viscous
hydrogen and helium. This hydrogen and helium becomes gaseous near the planet's
surface and merges with its atmosphere.
Internal
structure
Other major molecules observed in Saturn’s
atmosphere
They are methane and ammonia, which are two to seven times more
abundant relative to hydrogen than in the Sun. Hydrogen sulfide and water are
also suspected to be present in the deeper atmosphere but have not yet been
detected. Minor molecules that have been detected spectroscopically from Earth include phosphine, carbon monoxide, and germane. Such
molecules would not be present in detectable amounts in a hydrogen-rich
atmosphere in chemical equilibrium. They may be products of reactions at high
pressure and temperature in Saturn’s deep atmosphere, well below the observable
clouds, that have been transported to visible atmospheric regions by convective
motions. A number of other nonequilibrium hydrocarbons are observed in Saturn’s
stratosphere: acetylene, ethane, and, possibly, propane and methyl
acetylene. All of the latter may be produced by photochemical effects (see photochemical reaction) from solar ultraviolet
radiation or, at higher latitudes, by energetic electrons precipitating from
Saturn’s radiation belts (see below The magnetic field and magnetosphere). (A
similar molecular composition is observed in Jupiter’s atmosphere, for which
similar chemical processes are inferred; see Jupiter: Proportions of constituents.)
Astronomers
on Earth have analyzed the refraction (bending) of starlight and radio waves
from spacecraft passing through Saturn’s atmosphere to
gain information on atmospheric temperatureover depths corresponding to
pressures of one-millionth of a bar to 1.3 bars. At pressures less than 1
millibar, the temperature is roughly constant at about 140 to 150 kelvins (K; −208 to −190 °F, −133 to −123 °C). A stratosphere, where temperatures steadily
decline with increasing pressure, extends downward from 1 to 60 millibars, at
which level the coldest temperature in Saturn’s atmosphere, 82 K (−312 °F, −191
°C), is reached. At higher pressures (deeper levels) the temperature increases
once again. This region is analogous to the lowest layer of Earth’s atmosphere,
the troposphere, in which the increase of
temperature with pressure follows the thermodynamic relation for compression of
a gas without gain or loss of heat. The temperature is 135 K (−217 °F, −138 °C)
at a pressure of 1 bar, and it continues to increase at higher pressures.
Saturn’s
visible layer of clouds is formed from molecules of minor compounds that
condense in the hydrogen-rich atmosphere. Although particles formed from
photochemical reactions are seen suspended high in the atmosphere at levels
corresponding to pressures of 20–70 millibars, the main clouds commence at a
level where the pressure exceeds 400 millibars, with the highest cloud deck
thought to be formed of solid ammonia crystals.
The base of the ammonia cloud deck is predicted to occur at a depth corresponding
to about 1.7 bars, where the ammonia crystals dissolve into the hydrogen gas
and disappear abruptly. Nearly all information about deeper cloud layers has
been obtained indirectly by constructing chemical models of the behaviour of
compounds expected to be present in a gas of near solar composition following
the temperature-pressure profile of Saturn’s atmosphere. The bases of
successively deeper cloud layers occur at 4.7 bars (ammonium hydrosulfide
crystals) and at 10.9 bars (water ice crystals with aqueous ammonia droplets).
Although all the clouds mentioned above would be colourless in the pure state,
the actual clouds of Saturn display various shades of yellow, brown, and red.
These colours are apparently produced by chemical impurities, perhaps as the
photochemical products rain down on the clouds from above.Phosphorus-containing molecules are also
candidate colorants.
A consequence
of Saturn’s large axial tilt is that the rings cast dark shadows onto the
winter hemisphere, further reducing the dim winter sunlight. Cassini images of
sunlit swaths of the northern hemisphere during winter revealed a surprisingly
clear blue atmosphere, which perhaps was a consequence of the comparative lack
of photochemical haze production in the shadows of the rings.
Even at the
extremely high pressures found deeper in Saturn’s atmosphere, the minimum
atmospheric temperature of 82 K is too high for molecular hydrogen to exist as
a gas and a liquid together in equilibrium. Thus, there is no distinct boundary
between the shallow, visible atmosphere, where the hydrogen behaves
predominantly as a gas, and the deeper atmosphere, where it resembles a liquid.
Unlike the case for Earth, Saturn’s troposphere does not terminate at a solid
surface but apparently extends tens of thousands of kilometres below the
visible clouds, becoming steadily denser and warmer, eventually reaching
temperatures of thousands of kelvins and pressures in excess of one million
bars.
You can also check out these cool telescopes that will help you see the beauty of
planet Saturn.
Orbit & Rotation
Average
Distance from the Sun
English:
885,904,700 miles Metric: 1,426,725,400 km(9.5 AU)
By Comparison: 9.53707 times that of
Earth
Perihelion (closest)
English:
838,519,000 miles Metric:
1,349,467,000 km
By
Comparison: 9.177 times that of Earth
Aphelion (farthest)
English:
934,530,000 miles Metric:
1,503,983,000 km
By
Comparison: 9.886 times that of Earth
Eccentricity of orbit 0.054
Inclination of orbit to ecliptic 2.49°
Saturnian year
(sidereal period of revolution) 29.45 Earth years
Visual magnitude at mean opposition 0.7
Mean synodic period* 378.10 Earth days
Mean orbital velocity 9.6 km/sec
Equatorial radius** 60,268 km
Polar radius** 54,364 km
Mass 5.683 × 1026 kg
Mean density 0.69 g/cm3
Equatorial gravity** 896 cm/sec2
Polar gravity** 1,214 cm/sec2
Equatorial escape velocity** 35.5 km/sec
Polar escape velocity** 37.4 km/sec
Rotation period (magnetic field) 10 hr 39 min 24 sec (Voyager era); about
10 hr 46 min (Cassini-Huygens mission)
Inclination of equator to orbit 26.7°
Magnetic field strength at equator 0.21 gauss
Number of known moons 62
planetary ring system 3 major rings comprising
myriad component ringlets; several less-dense rings
*Time required for the
planet to return to the same position in the sky relative to the Sun as seen
from Earth.
**Calculated for the altitude at which 1 bar of atmospheric pressure is
exerted.
Saturn's Moons
Saturn has at
least 62 moons. Since the planet was named after Cronus, lord of the
titans in Greek mythology, most of Saturn's moons are
named after other titans, their descendants, as well as after giants
from Gallic, Inuit and Norse myths.
Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is slightly larger than Mercury, and
is the second-largest moon in the solar system behind Jupiter's moon Ganymede.
Titan is veiled under a very thick, nitrogen-rich atmosphere that might be like what Earth's was long ago, before life.
While the Earth's atmosphere extends only about 37 miles (60 kilometers) into
space, Titan's reaches nearly 10 times as far.
These moons can possess bizarre features. Pan and Atlas are shaped like flying saucers, Iapetus has
one side as bright as snow and one side as dark as coal, and Enceladus shows evidence of "ice
volcanism," spewing out water and other chemicals. A number of these
satellites, such as Prometheus and Pandora, areshepherd moons, interacting with ring material
to keep rings in their orbits.
Saturn's Rings
Galileo was the first to see Saturn's rings in 1610, although from his telescope they resembled handles or arms. It took Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens, who had a more powerful telescope, to propose that Saturn had a thin, flat ring.
Saturn actually has many rings made of billions of particles of ice and rock, ranging in size from a grain of sugar to the size of a house. The rings are believe to be debris left over from comets, asteroids or shattered moons. Although they extend thousands of miles from the planet, the main rings are typically only about 30 feet thick. Cassini revealed vertical formations in some of the rings, with particles piling up in bumps and ridges more than 2 miles (3 kilometers) high.
The rings are generally named alphabetically in the order they were discovered. They are usually relatively close to each other, with one key exception caused by the Cassini Division, a gap some 2,920 miles (4,700 kilometers) wide. The main rings, working out from the planet, are known as C, B and A, with the Cassini Division separating B and A. The innermost is the extremely faint D ring, while the outermost to date, revealed in 2009, could fit a billion Earths within it.
Mysterious spokes have been seen in Saturn's rings, which might form and disperse over a few hours. Scientists have conjectured these spokes might be composed of electrically charged sheets of dust-sized particles created by small meteors impacting the rings or electron beams from the planet's lightning. Saturn's F Ring also has a curious braided appearance — it is composed of several narrow rings, and bends, kinks, and bright clumps in them can give the illusion that these strands are braided.
Research & Exploration
The first spacecraft to reach Saturn was Pioneer 11 in 1979, flying within 13,700 miles (22,000 kilometers) of it, which discovered the planet's two of its outer rings as well as the presence of a strong magnetic field. The Voyager spacecraft discovered the planet's rings are made up of ringlets, and sent back data that led to the discovery or confirmation of the existence of nine moons.
The Cassini spacecraft now in orbit around Saturn is the largest interplanetary spacecraft ever built, a two-story-tall probe that, at 6 tons in weight (5,650 kilograms), is roughly equal in mass to an empty 30-passenger school bus. It discovered plumes on the icy moon Enceladus, and carried the Huygens probe, which plunged through Titan's atmosphere to successfully land on its surface.
Saturn's Gravitational Impact on the Solar System
As the most massive planet in the solar system after Jupiter, the pull of Saturn's gravity has helped shape the fate of our system. It might have helped violently hurl Neptune and Uranus outward. It, along with Jupiter, might alos have slung a barrage of debris toward the inner planets early in the system's history.
Possibility of Life
The life found on Earth could not live on Saturn, and scientists doubt that any form of life exists there.
Body parts,
function
The Sun is the life giver to
our physical bodies and controls the prana or life force. The placement of the
Sun is very important for overall health as it governs entire constitution of
the body. No number of words can express the Sun's importance in bodily
functioning. It specifically rules the heart, eyes, upper back and spine, aorta
and blood circulation. Every heart related problem arise due to affliction to
Sun or its sign Leo, this includes enlarged heart conditions, palpitations of
the heart, cholesterol-related degeneration of the heart, angina, pericarditis,
endocarditis, blood pressure and heart attacks. High fevers, back problem,
diseases of the bone marrow, rheumatic fever and sunstroke.
Sun Signs Education and Career
It signifies studies related to tradition, philosophy and
spiritualism. It rules over all types of fuel and their extraction, excretory
system and all works related to drainage, plumbing etc. it is signifier
of labour, artisan, works, factory, refrigeration, low cadre work or services,
physical and hard work of all kinds, glass or tile factories, metaphysics,
philosophy, gardener, lead astronomy, agriculture, footwear etc . It is a
bridge between high and the low. A strong unafflicted Saturn is treated as
strong signification of discipline, system and keen provision of life.
Professions governed
by the Saturn:Saturn represents all career and vocations that are related to hard labor, tradition, the practical, real estate, the old and the conservative. Saturn denotes people working or associated with labour and menial jobs like working as peon, servants, industry and factory workers, domestic work, driver, cabman, and working on manpower.
All career and jobs associated with mines, farms, agriculture, gardeners, cemetery, excavators, real estate, builders, bricklayers, tanners, hides, coal, ice, and tombstone makers. Priests, monks, nuns, night workers and night watchmen are also denoted by Saturn due to strict, hard, conservative and lonely life of people connected with these jobs.
Manufacture and trading in rail engines and locomotives of all kinds including manufacture and trading in cars, lorries, trucks, heavy vehicles and all other kinds of transport vehicles of auto and non-auto type like bullock and horse-carts are also associated with Saturn. It also includes all those associated with theft, robbery, dacoit, plundering, pick-pocketing, and any other kind of criminal or other unlawful activities.
DISEASES GOVERNED SATURN:
Rheumatic
troubles of all kinds, diseases of the feet and stomach, morbidness, gastric
and phlegmatic troubles, bruises from stones and trees and gaseous ailments.
Saturn itself is considered a planet of diseases, sorrows and old
age. Rheumatic pains, nervous disorders, arthritis, bones problems, fractures,
paralysis, osteoporosis, sever depression and old age related diseases etc. are
the indicator of malefic Saturn.
Saturn
: Shani
Saturn relates
to : Delays, Obstruction. In Shani Dasha every thing happens slowly, Dejection.
Is Lord of the 8 th house, gives happiness from Immovable property like Mars but has a second
place after Mars. Together if Saturn and Moon are in any house then it is a
very bad aspect. Sat-Mars Conjunction is bad for health. An event is delayed by
Saturn but success is not denied.
Plants -
Astrology and Mythology
Plants
seen from an astrological perspective. See how zodiac signs and plants (trees,
shrubs, herbs, crawlers, bulbs, vegetables, annuals, fruits and nuts) are
connected.The myths sourrounding the plants and the facts revealed, their
medicinal properties give a flavour to your basic need from mother nature.How
Plants are connected with the Planets ?
Saturn
-
Herbs like agrimony, arnica, belladona, blue bottle, cannabis, fumitory, gravel root, henbane, horsetail, knapweed, knotgrass,safflower.
- Shrubs like andrographis, coca, guelder rose, ignatius, quince, solomons seal.
-Trees like almonds, balm of gilead, elm slippery, ginkgo, holly tree, peepal tree., olive tree.
The
Mantras for Saturn:
Beej Mantra of Saturn:
|
Om pram preem proum sah
shanaischaraye namah
|
Saturn stotra:
|
Neelanjana samabhasam
ravi putram yamagrajam chaaya martanda sambhutam tam namami shanaischaraye
|
Gayatri Mantra of
Saturn:
|
Om kaak dhwajaaya
vidmahae khadga hastaaya dheemahi tanno mandah prachodayaat
|
Remedies for Saturn
which are performed if Saturn is not well placed in the horoscope:
1.
Worshiping of Lord Hanuman.
2.
Recitation of Hanuman Chalisa and Maha mrityunjaya Mantra.
3.
Reciting of Saturn Mantras.
4.
Charity: Donate black cloths, things made of iron, mustard oil,
black sesame on Saturdays to old men.
5.
Fasting: On Saturdays.
6.
Pooja: Hanuman pooja.
7.
Rudraksh: Wear seven mukhi (seven faced) Rudraksh.
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